Fast and Easy Pizza Dough and Sauce

We haven’t posted any new recipes lately but we do have several new ones we’ve tried that we really liked – just have to take some time to post them. I need to get Laurie to post her spaghetti pie recipe, potato casserole and toffee recipe before too long. Although she may want to keep those as “family secrets.”

But here’s a nice quick recipe I found today that I want to try out. I’ve got a good recipe for pizza already but this one looks good as well

Via wise bread:

Pizza Dough (15 minutes for prep)

  • 1 teaspoon rapid-rise yeast (if you use the kind that comes in packets, you need about 1/2 of a packet per batch of dough)
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • Your favorite pizza spices — I use about a teaspoon each of garlic, dried onion, basil and ground black pepper
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus an extra teaspoon
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour (plus extra as needed)

In my largest mixing bowl, I combine the yeast, salt, and spices. I add the water and 2 tablespoons of olive oil and give it a quick stir. I add the flour a cup at a time. After the second cup, I usually can’t stir in any more flour and have to switch to kneading it in. I knead until the dough is smooth. If the dough is too sticky I add flour in slowly until it smooths out. I pour the remaining olive oil into the bottom of the bowl and roll the dough around until the oil coats the outside of the dough. I cover with a damp cloth and stick the whole bowl out of the way to rise. It should double in about 2 hours.

For pizza, I preheat the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. I form balls out of the dough and roll them flat on a floured surface. I place the pizzas on a lightly greased baking shet and pop in the oven for about 15 minutes. The cooking time entirely depends on the thickness of your crust and how many toppings you pile on — thin crust pizzas can take as little as 8 minutes.

For calzone, I preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Set up is essentially the same up to the point when I start adding toppings. Toppings go into the middle of the dough and the dough gets folded over them. I then pinch the edges shut. If they aren’t staying closed, trying running your finger over the edge with a little water, then pinching. I then bake them for about 30 minutes.

Read more (including the sauce recipe)…

No slackers this Thanksgiving

From Lifehacker:

Chow.com is building a guide to a “Neoslacker Interactive Thanksgiving,” offering links to email your guests a not-too-hard recipe and shopping list for a dish to bring over. The feature also sports some helpful tips on turkeys, wine pairings, and centerpieces, along with funny/useful holiday hacks like “How to eat more” and “How to keep people out of the kitchen.”

Laurie and I also just found The Pioneer Woman Cooks (thanks to Brandi) and she has lots of easy to follow Thanksgiving recipes posted on her sight as well.

Hard to believe

This just in from USA Today:

Study: More fast food means added weight

You may want to sit down for this one. According to the article:

People who eat several fast-food meals a week are significantly heavier than those who don’t eat fast food very often, according to a new study released Monday.

Amazing. Simply amazing what science can reveal these days. After all these years I guess this means my kindergarten teacher was right after all.

Chicken and Chipotle Soup

Got this recipe out of our new low carb cookbook. I thought it was great, Laurie said she liked it and would eat it again, but wouldn’t be too devastated if she didn’t have it again. I cooked it a bit different than the recipe calls for (as usual) but I enjoyed it.

According to the recipe, it evolved from the foodstalls that line the streets of Tlalpan, a suburb of Mexico City; avocado, chicken and chilies make it special.

Ingredients:

6 cups of chicken stock (a little more than 4 10.5 oz cans)
2-3 garlic cloves, finally chopped (I substituted garlic powder)
1-2 chipotle chilies, cut into very thin strips (I substituted a pepper since we couldn’t find chipotle chilies at Wal-Mart)
1 avacado
lime or lemon juice for tossing
3-5 scallions, thinly sliced
12-14 oz skinless, boneless cooked chicken breast, torn or cut into shreds or thin strips
2 tbsp chopped cilantro (we forgot to look for that)
1 lime, cut into wedges, to serve

1. Place the chicken stock in a pan with the garlic and chilies and bring to a boil
2. Cut the avocado in half lengthwise, then remove and discard the pit and skin. Dice the flesh and toss in lime juice to prevent browning (set aside)
3. Arrange the scallions, chicken, avocado and cilantro into the bottom of 4 soup bowls
4. Ladle the hot stock into the bowls and serve with lime wedges

Laurie passed on the lime wedge and added a good deal of garlic salt to her soup. I passed on the added garlic and squeezed the lime juice into my soup. Both bowls of soup had different distinct tastes (or so I thought). I guess that’s the fun of recipes. Play with them till you find something you enjoy.

Spicy corn dip

From the recipe exchange last month:

Sorry this took so long but here is my recipe for some corn dip. Whenever I take this somewhere, I’m always requested to bring it again the next time!

2 11 oz. cans of white shoepeg corn (Green Giant) drained
¼ cup chopped white onions
8 oz. package of shredded Colby Jack cheese
5-6 FRESH jalapenos (seeded and chopped fine)
1 cup of mayo (I use the reduced fat)
½ cup of sour cream (I use Daisy Light sour cream)

Mix all together and serve with big scoop Fritos. I save one jalapeno and put in center of dish as a decoration.
Hope you enjoy this.

Sharon Hunter

Things to do with boxed wine

To continue with my recipe postings…
Wisebread has seven things to do with boxed wines:
Mulled Wine
Fruit Salad Glaze
Sangria
Marinades
Salad Dressings
Spritzers
Gourmet Cooking on the Cheap

It may be a while before Laurie and I try any of these. We bought a red and white wine from De Vine Wine Saturday and I think were planning on saving that till Friday or Saturday when we close and move into our new house! Whoo hoo!